NaMo takes on critics of his nationalism
CLEARING THE AIR The three-time Gujarat chief minister talks candidly about his reputation
Modi says he is patriotic, a Hindu nationalist, and there’s nothing wrong with this >>
GANDHINAGAR: The lunch guests were sworn to secrecy.
The European diplomats gathered at the German ambassador’s residence in New Delhi’s lush green embassy enclave quizzed the guest of honour on everything from the economy and communal violence to his political ambitions. But nobody, the representatives from most of the 28 European Union states agreed, could publicly mention the man they were meeting: Narendra Modi, India’s most controversial politician and, possibly, the next prime minister.
It was a moment that captures the paradox at the heart of Modi, and the caution with which outside world approaches him. The January lunch at Ambassador Michael Steiner’s residence ended a decade-long unofficial EU boycott of the 62-year-old politician, who had just won his third straight term as chief minister of Gujarat.
The boycott stemmed from 2002 riots in Gujarat in which Hindu mobs killed at least 1,000 people, most of them Muslims. Human rights groups and political rivals have long alleged that Modi, a Hindu and a dominant force in the BJP, allowed or even actively encouraged the attacks. Modi has always vehemently denied the charge, and a Supreme Court inquiry found no evidence to prosecute him.
In the decade since, Modi has remade himself as a business-savvy, investor-friendly administrator, a charismatic leader who has presided over a booming economy and lured major investment to his sprawling coastal state, famed for its spirit of entrepreneurship.
Modi is now the head of the BJP’s campaign to win back power in a national election due by next May, and is widely expected to become the party’s prime ministerial candidate.
Modi’s ability to remake himself is central to understanding the man, even if he rejects any suggestion he has changed his image. In a rare interview in late June he insisted apparent contradictions were no such thing. Sitting in his sparsely decorated office in a heavily guarded compound in Gandhinagar, Modi put his hand on his chest to emphasise that point. “I’m a nationalist. I’m patriotic. Nothing is wrong. I’m a born Hindu. So yes, you can say I’m a Hindu nationalist.”
In the hour-long interview, Modi at times appeared tense, though not defensive. He chose his words carefully, especially when talking about his role in the 2002 riots.
“A leader who doesn’t take a decision: who will accept him as a leader? That is a quality, it’s not a negative,” Modi said. “If someone was an authoritarian then how would he be able to run a government for so many years? Without a team effort how can you get success?”
He dismissed concerns about his style of management. “I always say the strength of democracy lies in criticism. If there is no criticism that means there is no democracy. And if you want to grow, you must invite criticism. And I want to grow, I want to invite criticism.”
“WE HAVE NO ORDERS”
The son of a tea-stall owner, Modi’s journey into politics started young. As a teenager he joined the RSS, a voluntary right-wing group that serves both as the ideological incubator for “Hindutva”, a hardline brand of Hindu nationalism, and as the philosophical parent of the BJP.
Modi joined the BJP in 1987. With a reputation as an efficient organiser he rose through the ranks, although his self-promotion and ambition earned him enemies along the way, according to various biographies.
Nearly four months after Modi’s swearing-in as the Gujarat chief minister in 2001, a fire aboard a train in Godhra killed 59 Hindu pilgrims.
While there are still questions over how it started, police blamed the blaze on local Muslims. That triggered a wave of violence in which Hindu mobs attacked Muslim areas.
Activists and relatives of the riot victims accused Modi of giving Hindu rioters a free hand. New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a 2002 report entitled “We Have No Orders to Save You” that at best police had been “passive observers, and at worst they acted in concert with murderous mobs.”
Modi has always rebuffed demands for an apology. He insists that he did all that he could to stop the violence. “Up till now, we feel that we used our full strength to set out to do the right thing,” he said.
A special investigation team (SIT) appointed by the Supreme Court said in 2012 it could find no evidence to prosecute Modi. Most importantly, it cleared him of the most damaging allegation: that he had told senior officials to allow Hindu mobs to vent their anger. “Frustration comes when you think ‘I got caught. I was stealing and I got caught.’ That’s not my case. I was given a thoroughly clean chit,” said Modi.
Asked if he regretted the violence, Modi compared his feelings to the occupant of a car involved in an accident. If “someone else is driving a car and we’re sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will it be painful or not? Of course it is. If I’m a chief minister or not, I’m a human being. If something bad happens anywhere, it is natural to be sad.”
MARKETING MODI
In the aftermath of the riots, Modi went to work improving his reputation. “What he has done is change the narrative and go for (economic) development,” says Swapan Dasgupta, a New Delhi-based political analyst who has advised BJP leaders on media strategy. Modi has built a reputation as an incorruptible and efficient technocrat. Modi boasts Gujarat is the “engine of India’s economic growth.”
But opponents and some economists point out that Gujarat has a long tradition of entrepreneurship and that the state was doing well economically before Modi took charge.
The difference is Modi and his sales pitch. He appears impeccably dressed, either in suits or stylish tailor-made kurtas, a knee-length Indian shirt, rimless glasses and a neatly trimmed white beard. The Indian media and the ruling Congress party claim that Modi has employed APCO Worldwide, a PR agency in the US, to help him rehabilitate his image at home and abroad. The man himself says he has no need for image makers. “I have never looked at or listened to or met a PR agency.”
A LEGACY QUESTIONED
Modi will now take his mantra of good governance and development on the road to try to convince voters to vote his party into power nationally for the first time in 10 years.
Pollsters expect a close election with regional parties likely to be king-makers. Even if the BJP wins the most votes it could struggle to find partners to form a coalition government, especially with Modi at its head.
The man himself dismisses the notion he is divisive. “I’m not in favour of dividing Hindus and Sikhs. I’m not in favour of dividing Hindus and Christians. All the citizens, all the voters, are my countrymen,” Modi said. “Religion should not be an instrument in your democratic process.”